Bomb Threat to Legend Of The Seas - April 22, 2003

Kelley Marie Ferguson Bomb Threat Against Legend Of The Seas

A woman who wanted to leave a cruise ship to return to her boyfriend in California spent a night in a federal detention center, charged with threatening to kill everyone aboard the cruise ship Legend Of The Seas on April 22, 2003, in order to cut the cruise short.

Kelley Marie Ferguson, 20, of Laguna Hills, California was traveling with family members was charged with two counts of threatening acts of terrorism. Each count carries a maximum prison term of 10 years.

The cruise ship was on a 10-day trip departed from Ensenada, Mexico, when crew members found two handwritten notes on April 22 and 23, according to the charges. Both notes stated that if the ship docked in a U.S. port, the nearly 2,400 passengers and crew would all die.

After the second note was found, authorities diverted the ship to Oahu waters and a 120-member task force of federal, state and military personnel searched the ship and interviewed people on board.

The ship was searched for biological, chemical, radiological and explosive weapons, but nothing was found and the ship's cruise resumed on April 24.

Ferguson confessed the following day during an interview.

She said that she never wanted to go on this cruise with her family and that she wrote these notes hoping that it would shorten her time on the cruise, thereby allowing her to rejoin her boyfriend at home.

She later plead guilty to planting notes threatening to kill Americans aboard a cruise ship, she was sentenced to two years in federal prison.

Kelley Marie Ferguson, of Laguna Hills, Calif., could have faced up to 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000 for planting the notes aboard the Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas.

Ferguson had a baby girl June 25. and begin serving her sentence Nov. 4 2003.

U.S. District Court Judge Helen Gillmor also ordered Ferguson to serve three years of supervised release, and to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and counseling, as needed.